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Cook Once, Eat Twice: Chicken

April 23, 2019 by Lindsay 2 Comments

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Cook Once, Eat Twice: Chicken. Prep just a few simple ingredients and learn how to turn them into two completely different meals that you can prep ahead of time and eat for lunch or dinner all week.

Cook Once, Eat Twice: Crispy Kale Salad with Couscous and Peanut Noodle Chicken

Hi friends!

Over the weekend, I shared on IG stories how I decided to cook once, eat twice this week. I honestly wasn’t planning to share it on the blog but I got a great response from people saying they loved these type of easy meal ideas. 

Here’s the basic idea – I pick a handful of ingredients that I have on hand, and then come up with two ways to use them in meals that can be prepped ahead of time. My goal is to make two dishes that contain similar ingredients but are uniquely different so that I feel like I’m eating two different meals, but it’s less work on my part because a lot of the ingredients are the same.

When you approach something like this, start by choosing your staple ingredients. For me this week that was:

  • chicken
  • broccoli slaw
  • roasted sweet potatoes
  • peppers
  • apples

Crunchy Kale Salad with Couscous and chicken

I started with the idea for one dish. I wanted to recreate a salad that I had while we were out to dinner over the weekend. Once I’d finalized that recipe, I came up with another way to use the ingredients to make a cold noodle dish.

A few things that can help set dishes apart:

  • Hot vs cold
  • Veggie-based vs grain-based
  • Salad vs soup or casserole
  • Filling vs stand-alone
  • Flavoring/Sauces (ie mild vs spicy, Asian vs Indian)

This week I went with one that’s more salad-like with a base of kale and broccoli slaw and one that’s more noodle-based with added veggies. The nice thing about these are that they’re flexible. If you’re looking for the simplest, easiest way, use the same greens, grains and proteins for both. If you have a little more time, look for things that are similar but different, perhaps things that have similar cooking times.

For example, I used couscous in one and rice noodles in the other. Both cook in about 10 minutes so I could cook them simultaneously on the stove. However, I could have used noodles in both or couscous in both to save time. 

I used chicken in one and chicken sausage in the other. Since chicken sausage comes pre-cooked, all I had to do was cook the chicken. You could easily pick one and use it in both. You could also differentiate even more but still keep it simple by firing up the grill and grilling steak for one and chicken for the other. Or using canned beans or chickpeas in one and chicken in the other.

By choosing a few of the same fruits and veggies for both meals, you can do all your chopping at once and then just divide between the two meals (ie what i did for the peppers, apples and sweet potatoes).

kale salad and cold noodle salad

Also, remember that sauces can go a long way in setting two dishes apart. This week I made a Maple Mustard Vinaigrette for the salad and a sweet and spicy peanut sauce for the noodle salad. 

You can grab the recipe for the Crunchy Kale Salad with Couscous here. 

The recipe for the Asian Peanut Noodles is not exact. Feel free to adjust quantities based on how much you want to make. 

Asian Peanut Noodles

Bring a pot of water to a boil. Add 4 ounces rice noodles (I use Thai Kitchen) and half to one bag broccoli slaw. Cover, remove from heat and let sit for 10 minutes. Drain the water and return to pot. Mix in 3-4 chopped chicken sausages (or any kind of cooked chicken), 1 large chopped apple and 1 large chopped bell pepper and stir to combine.

In a bowl combine 1/4 cup peanut butter, 2 Tbsp soy sauce, 1-2 tsp fresh ginger, 2 Tbsp sweet chili sauce and 1/4 cup chicken broth. Taste and adjust if needed. Add some sriracha if desired. 

Pour peanut sauce over noodle mixture and stir to combine.

Cook Once, Eat Twice: Chicken. Prep just a few simple ingredients and learn how to turn them into two completely different meals that you can prep ahead of time and eat for lunch or dinner all week.

Hope this was helpful!

Enjoy!
–Lindsay–

 

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Filed Under: Dinner, Food Prep, Lunch Tagged With: Bell Pepper, Broccoli Slaw, Carrot, Chicken, Sweet Potato

About Lindsay

Lindsay Livingston is a Registered Dietitian and new mom from Columbus, Ohio. On her blog, she shares simple, healthy recipes, nutrition tips, workouts and snapshots of her life. Follow her on Twitter @LeanGrnBeanBlog and Instagram @TheLeanGreenBean and be sure to subscribe via RSS or email so you never miss a post!

« Crunchy Kale Salad with Couscous
Carrot Pineapple Turkey Meatballs »

Comments

  1. Adam Whiles says

    May 2, 2019 at 10:34 AM

    Thank you so much for this recipe and easy to follow instructions. I’m a simple guy that isn’t very creative. I’ve been stuck eating grilled chicken that is bland along with just plain old broccoli for a while now. I can’t wait to try this with my wife, I’m sure she’ll be surprised to come home to this! Thank You!!!

    Reply

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  1. Carrot Pineapple Turkey Meatballs says:
    April 30, 2019 at 12:00 AM

    […] excited to share these Carrot Pineapple Turkey Meatballs with you today. Lots of you liked the Cook Once, Eat Twice: Chicken post for two easy recipes using similar ingredients so today we’re doing the same thing with […]

    Reply

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lindsay livingston, Registered Dietitian from Columbus, OH, owner of the lean green bean

Hi, I’m Lindsay! I’m a Registered Dietitian and mom of three from Columbus, Ohio. I use this blog to share simple, healthy recipes, nutrition tips, and an honest glimpse of motherhood!

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